Times Will Shed 100 Newsroom Jobs

The struggling New York Times newspaper company has decided that it will trim 100 jobs from its newsroom, a total of 8 percent, by the end of the year, offering buyout packages to both union and nonunion employees. If the New York Times is unable to get employees to leave their jobs voluntarily, though, it will resort to layoffs.

The New York Times has enforced a similar program in spring of 2008 when the company eliminated 100 newsroom jobs through the same processes, but more jobs were created, resulting in a smaller net job loss. While the newspaper did not report how many jobs it had to cut through layoffs in 2008, the number, which is expected to be around 15 to 20, is the largest of amount of jobs shed by the newspaper in its recent history.

The Times came into this year with hopes that it would be able to turn around its fortunes and avoid any further job reductions, but these hopes have faded significantly since then. The newspaper’s third quarter results reveal that advertising revenue has continued to drop significantly and that the New York Times has very tough times and tough decisions ahead of it.

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